It began on May 15, 2003. Pedro Martinez threw six shutout innings, Nomar Garciaparra tripled and the Red Sox beat the Rangers, 12-3, that Thursday night in front of 33,801 fans.

It ended on April 10, 2013, nearly 10 full years later on a chilly Wednesday night against the Orioles. Once a matter of pride for the organization, the sellout streak became a focal point of fan criticism when, in the waning days of the 2012 season, the empty seats at Fenway grew increasingly conspicuous.

It marched on through the end of the season, in part because of how the Red Sox defined a sellout. (It was more about tickets distributed; if the Sox sold more standing-room only tickets than seats unsold, it counted as a sellout.)

That ongoing battle over definitions has left the Red Sox somewhat relieved that it’s all coming to an end. In the spring, team president Larry Lucchino called the streak’s inevitable conclusion “not such a terrible thing.”

“We know that part of the reason it’s over is because we failed last year,” general manager Ben Cherington said. “We take that on us and take responsibility for that.”

On Wednesday, the Red Sox didn’t want to focus too much on the obvious reasons the streak was coming to an end. Instead, they wanted to celebrate the fact that it happened in the first place.

“Hopefully, the focus of this is that it was a remarkable run for the team and for our fans,” Cherington said. “For it to last as long as it did is amazing. It’s on us now to make sure the place is filled and to start a new one at some point.”

“It’s incredible,” manager John Farrell said. “It was clearly the result of a lot of success on the field, a lot of very good teams, very good superstar individual players. Every effort is being made to have that type of team that people want to watch. I think we’re on the right path with that.”

“The streak is a reflection of a phenomenal period of baseball in Boston,” principal owner John Henry said in a team statement. “It is a testament to the baseball passion of New England fans.”

Aceves to start

With a biceps strain landing John Lackey on the 15-day disabled list, Alfredo Aceves has been announced as the probable starter for the Red Sox against the Baltimore Orioles on Thursday — an opportunity he’s awaited for two years.

Aceves has made nine starts in his career and has a 4.18 ERA in 471/3 innings pitched to go along with 24 strikeouts and 22 walks. Four of those starts came with the Red Sox in 2011; he had a 5.14 ERA with 13 strikeouts and 13 walks in those starts.

The Red Sox could have had Felix Doubront, Jon Lester and Clay Buchholz pitch on regular rest on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and then plugged Aceves into the rotation on Sunday, the first day someone would otherwise have had to pitch on fewer than four days’ rest.

But Baltimore has hit lefties hard so far in the first week of the season, running up a .575 slugging percentage against them as opposed to a .391 slugging percentage against righties. Switch-hitting catcher Matt Wieters in particular has hit lefties while swinging righty significantly harder than he’s hit righties while swinging lefty in his career. His on-base percentage was more than 100 points from the right side than from the left last season, his slugging percentage 92 points higher.

“Keeping him [hitting] from the left side was one of the factors in that,” Farrell said.

Lackey experienced tightness in his biceps when he tried to throw at Fenway Park on the off-day on Tuesday. That was enough for the Red Sox to make the decision to put him on the disabled list.

“He went through some light throwing, and the biceps still had some stiffness to it,” Farrell said. “Not knowing how many days he’ll have to have that irritiation completely resolved, we just felt like it was in his best interest to put him on the DL, let that recover at its own rate (so he doesn’t) feel like he’s up against the calendar and forcing things to get back to the mound.”

Still, if the injury is that minor, it’s a dodged bullet for a team that undoubtedly feared it had lost Lackey for the season when he screamed in pain and clutched at his arm after releasing a breaking ball Sunday at Toronto.

“It could have been a lot worse, for sure,” Lackey said. “I’m definitely frustrated a little bit — but relieved, too.”

Drew at short

The great shortstop debate wasn’t much of one for the Red Sox front office.

With Stephen Drew coming off the seven-day disabled list, Boston optioned Jose Iglesias back down to Pawtucket. The move officially occurred Tuesday, with Farrell acknowledging that there was really nothing Iglesias could do in such a short period of time to stick with the Sox.

“He did everything that we could have hoped and he played exceptionally well for us,” Farrell said. “But as we stated in spring training, upon Stephen’s recovery, we were going to insert him back as our starting shortstop. We didn’t deviate off of that even though Jose was playing as well as he was and swinging the bat as good as he was. That’s why I can understand if there was some frustration on Jose’s part, but he handled it very professionally yesterday.”

Drew is ready to go after suffering a concussion on March 7, when he was hit in the head with a pitch. He played four rehab games with Double-A Portland and said Wednesday that he was ready to go.

“I feel ready. It’s now getting in there and getting back and playing the game that I always played,” Drew said. “I’m looking forward to getting back with the guys to help this team win. That’s what it’s about.”

Cancer returns

Red Sox broadcaster Jerry Remy announced on the air Wednesday night that he suffered a relapse of lung cancer during the offseason.